Tag Archives: japan

The Grudge 2

IMDB Rating: 4.40
5917 votes

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Storyline
Set within two years after the first film and between two countries. Karen's sister, Audrey, been affected by the supernatural curse, and trying to find the origin of it in order to find a way to free herself. But what has this quest got to do with the families who are living in Chicago, a photojournalist from Hong Kong,and the three schoolgirls from Tokyo's International High School?
Actors
Karen DavisSarah Michelle Gellar
Aubrey DavisAmber Tamblyn
EasonEdison Chen

Flags of Our Fathers

IMDB Rating: 7.20
14583 votes

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Storyline
In February, 1945, one of the fiercest battles of the Pacific theater of World War II occurs on the tiny island of Iwo Jima. Thousands of Marines attack the stronghold maintained by thousands of Japanese, and the slaughter on both sides is horrific. Early in the battle, an American flag is raised atop the high point, Mount Suribachi, and a photograph of the raising becomes an American cause celebre. As a powerful inspiration to war-sick Americans, the photo becomes a symbol of the Allied cause. The three surviving flag raisers, Rene Gagnon, John Bradley, and Ira Hayes, are whisked back to civilization to help raise funds for the war effort. But the accolades for heroism heaped upon the three men are at odds with their own personal realizations that thousands of real heroes lie dead on Iwo Jima, and that their own contributions to the fight are only symbolic and not deserving of the singling out they are experiencing. Each of the three must come to terms with the honors, exploitation, and grief that they face simply for being in a photograph.
Actors
John "Doc" BradleyRyan Phillippe
Rene GagnonJesse Bradford
Ira HayesAdam Beach

Memoirs of a Geisha

IMDB Rating: 7.00
19841 votes

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Storyline
In 1929 an impoverished nine-year-old named Chiyo from a fishing village is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto's Gion district and subjected to cruel treatment from the owners and the head geisha Hatsumomo. Her stunning beauty attracts the vindictive jealousy of Hatsumomo, until she is rescued by and taken under the wing of Hatsumomo's bitter rival, Mameha. Under Mameha's mentorship, Chiyo becomes the geisha named Sayuri, trained in all the artistic and social skills a geisha must master in order to survive in her society. As a renowned geisha she enters a society of wealth, privilege, and political intrigue. As World War II looms Japan and the geisha's world are forever changed by the onslaught of history.
Actors
ChiyoSuzuka Ohgo
TanakaTogo Igawa
SakamotoMako

Kill Bill: Vol. 1

IMDB Rating: 8.20
117804 votes

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Storyline
"The Bride" was once part of a group of world class female assassins, until the group leader, "Bill" and the other assassins turn against her. Four years later "The Bride" awakens from the coma the assassins left her in and heads out to seek bloody revenge. Unlike conventional movies, Kill Bill is told in chapter format making the narrative flow more like a book than a film.
Actors
The BrideUma Thurman
O-Ren IshiiLucy Liu
Vernita GreenVivica A. Fox

The Last Samurai

IMDB Rating: 7.80
56635 votes

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Storyline
In the 1870s, Captain Nathan Algren, a cynical veteran of the American Civil war who will work for anyone, is hired by Americans who want lucrative contracts with the Emperor of Japan to train the peasant conscripts for the first standing imperial army in modern warfare using firearms. The imperial Omura cabinet's first priority is to repress a rebellion of traditionalist Samurai -hereditary warriors- who remain devoted to the sacred dynasty but reject the Westernizing policy and even refuse firearms. Yet when his ill-prepared superior force sets out too soon, their panic allows the sword-wielding samurai to crush them. Badly wounded Algren's courageous stand makes the samurai leader Katsumoto spare his life; once nursed to health he learns to know and respect the old Japanese way, and participates as advisor in Katsumoto's failed attempt to save the Bushido tradition, but Omura gets repressive laws enacted- he must now choose to honor his loyalty to one of the embittered sides when the conflict returns to the battlefield...
Actors
Shin Koyamada
KatsumotoKen Watanabe
Nathan AlgrenTom Cruise

Lost in Translation

IMDB Rating: 7.90
77219 votes

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Storyline
Bob Harris is an American film actor, far past his prime. He visits Tokyo to appear in commercials, and he meets Charlotte, the young wife of a visiting photographer. Bored and weary, Bob and Charlotte make ideal if improbable traveling companions. Charlotte is looking for "her place in life," and Bob is tolerating a mediocre stateside marriage. Both separately and together, they live the experience of the American in Tokyo. Bob and Charlotte suffer both confusion and hilarity due to the cultural and language differences between themselves and the Japanese. As the relationship between Bob and Charlotte deepens, they come to the realization that their visits to Japan, and one another, must soon end. Or must they?
Actors
CharlotteScarlett Johansson
Bob HarrisBill Murray
Ms. KawasakiAkiko Takeshita

Pearl Harbor

IMDB Rating: 5.30
52048 votes

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Storyline
The above summaries do a great job of describing the dynamics of the love triangle that develops between the two pilots that fall in love with the same nurse. The movie also does a credible job of displaying the war from the American side with FDR and our side. It also shows the strategy of Japan as they plan for and execute all facets of the attack on Pearl Harbor. While all details may not be historically correct, I believe that they do the job well - all things considered. Historic events that were altered were probably done so in an attempt to also make this movie the entertaining epic that it is.
Actors
Capt. Rafe McCawleyBen Affleck
Capt. Danny WalkerJosh Hartnett
Nurse Lt. Evelyn JohnsonKate Beckinsale

Brother

IMDB Rating: 7.10
6787 votes

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Storyline
A Japanese Yakuza gangster is exiled to the United States. Takeshi settles in Los Angeles where his younger, half brother lives and finds that although the turf is new, the rules are still the same as they try to take over the local drug trade.
Actors
Aniki YamamotoTakeshi Kitano
DennyOmar Epps
KenKuroudo Maki

Black Rain

IMDB Rating: 6.30
8473 votes

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Storyline
Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. In Japan, however, he manages to escape. As they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game the Japanese way.
Actors
NickMichael Douglas
CharlieAndy Garcia
MasahiroKen Takakura

The Last Emperor

IMDB Rating: 7.80
14067 votes

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Storyline
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
Actors
Pu Yi (Adult)John Lone
Wan JungJoan Chen
Reginald Johnston (R.J.)Peter O'Toole
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